I think I had forgotten my own peril and was enthralled by the majesty of the place--the wavering torches, the dropping wall of green water, above all, the figures of Laputa and the Keeper of the Snake, who seemed to have stepped out of an antique world.
Laputa stripped off his leopard skin till he stood stark, a noble form of a man.

Then the priest sprinkled some herbs on the fire, and a thin smoke rose to the roof.

The smell was that I had smelled on the Kirkcaple shore, sweet, sharp, and strange enough to chill the marrow.
And round the fire went the priest in widening and contracting circles, just as on that Sabbath evening in spring.
Once more we were sitting on the ground, all except Laputa and the Keeper.

Henriques was squatting in the front row, a tiny creature among so many burly savages.

Laputa stood with bent head in the centre.
Then a song began, a wild incantation in which all joined.